Here the crime is fixed; and is one of those extraordinary cases which can neither be denied nor palliated, and to which the custom of war does not apply; for it never could be supposed that such a brutal outrage would ever be committed.
Discussing a specific wartime atrocity, Paine argues that the crime is undeniable and so extreme that it falls outside the usual customs of war.
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Many of the facts were in themselves principles; such as the declaration of American Independence, and the treaty of alliance between France and America, which recognised the natural rights of man, and justified resistance to oppression.
The meaning, then, good people, of all this, is: That government is governed by no principle whatever; that it can make evil good, or good evil, just as it pleases.
It was become evident, that no constitution, worthy of being called by that name, could be established on anything less than a national ground.